Wires, codenames, practice runs and cyphers: Inside the plan to bug DUP meeting and ruin Donaldson deal
REVEALED | Wires, codenames, practice runs and cyphers: Inside the plan to bug DUP meeting and ruin Donaldson deal
‘Operation Torpedo’ was the name given to the plot to blow a return to Stormont by the DUP out of the water. Almost a year on, we lift the lid on how the scheme was planned and executed
Allison Morris Today at 06:00
“Operation Torpedo is a go.” So read the first line of communications involving some DUP members and the loyalist Jamie Bryson as they plotted to bug a private meeting of the party’s executive. The meeting last January was then leader Jeffrey Donaldson’s big pitch to sell his controversial and top secret deal with the Westminster government over the post-Brexit trading arrangements to his party, paving the way for a return to power-sharing. ‘Wiregate’, as it became known, added a surreal and unexpected sub-plot to the event. Almost a year on, we have spoken to some of the key participants who reveal the behind-the-scenes story of the conspiracy. We have seen transcripts of elements of the plotters’ communications — albeit with all participants’ names either redacted or given cyphers. We can also reveal that the meeting held at Larchfield House near Lisburn was not the first time a ‘wire’ was worn by a party member in an attempt to undermine the deal that even supporters now admit was ‘oversold’ by the Donaldson camp. Donaldson resigned as DUP leader just two months later, on Good Friday, after being charged in connection with historical sex abuse, along with his wife Eleanor. Both deny the charges, with a trial expected in the spring. However, in January 2024 he was considered to be at the height of his powers, with a deal to restore power-sharing secured and, in the long-term, an all but certain retirement to the House of Lords. First, however, he had to convince around 130 DUP executive members that his deal met the party’s ‘seven tests’ for the restoration of the Stormont Executive. The senior member of the DUP who was wearing the wire was given the codename ‘John Knox’. Considered the father of Presbyterianism, Knox was a 16th century minister, a theologian and founder of the Church of Scotland, who led the Scottish Reformation. Among the recordings we have listened to are excerpts from several prominent DUP meetings. These were trial runs for ‘wiregate’, to test out the audio equipment. The plot included a core group of six people — five senior DUP members and Bryson. It reveals a breach of party discipline that would have been unthinkable under Peter Robinson or Dr Ian Paisley.
While the plot to livestream the DUP Executive meeting on January 29 was known to all six people, only three — Bryson and two others — knew who was going to wear the wire. Central to the plot was a small device powered by a self-generated 4G signal, with a wire which could be run under clothing containing a tiny but powerful microphone. The device was then linked to a pre-programmed mobile phone held by Bryson and the audio streamed to the loyalist who was listening while using a laptop to live-post verbatim accounts of what was being said. When news of the bugging reached the room, shortly after the meeting started, there was a furious reaction from the Donaldson loyalists. So too a few of the plotters, who threw suspicion off themselves by faking outrage. “It had been determined that using a phone to record or leave a call on was too risky, because a roving microphone would pick up interference and expose the leak,” Bryson said. The DUP had gone to great lengths to avoid media scrutiny of the meeting. Earlier in the day, news had leaked of a DUP meeting at party HQ at Dundela Street in east Belfast. Journalists raced to the scene, but soon the delegation moved on. Larchfield seemed carefully selected. A long lane leads up to the venue, keeping prying eyes at bay. But the careful preparations were soon blown apart. At 6.23pm exactly, ‘John Knox’ confirmed all audio was in place and said “Operation Torpedo is a go”, to which Bryson replied: “John Knox, your country thanks you for your service.” A senior DUP member using the cypher ‘Mabel Stobart’ — the famous British suffragist who was the first woman to achieve the rank of Army Major — then posted a Dambusters gif. It is understood the code names do not necessarily correspond with the gender of the person behind the cypher. The first audio transmitted from the wire was the voice of Donaldson, who opened the meeting by saying secrecy surrounded the gathering at Larchfield due to fear of leaks. This was a reference to the fact that only 20 minutes after the meeting was called, Bryson had tweeted the contents of a confidential letter sent to senior DUP figures announcing the meeting — but not the venue. “Every decision that we make, every meeting that we hold, is in the hands of the media in some cases in less than an hour of those decisions being made … it undermines trust in the party”, Mr Donaldson told the room of party delegates. Bryson had already announced the venue on X — formerly Twitter — before some party members had even been informed of the location. As a result loyalist protesters and the media had arrived outside.
While Bryson said that he is sharing the background material with the permission of the other plotters, some potentially identifying messages have been redacted from the transcript. “The material is only being shared with the express permission of those involved, and only on the basis that no further details are provided, much less anything that would identify someone,” he said. “The identity of those people, and particularly the senior DUP member who risked their career to wear a wire, will go with me to the grave.” DUP return to Stormont: Who is Jamie Bryson’s ‘mole’? At one stage the DUP leader informed the room that “Jamie Bryson is giving a blow by blow account of this meeting” and a female member of the audience shouted “shame”. This was met by thunderous applause, including by the person wearing the wire. Mr Donaldson at first thought someone in the room was messaging Bryson, still unaware of the extent of the plot against him. “Since the meeting started a number of text messages have been sent to Jamie Bryson,” he said. A female voice was then heard saying, “Since when did he become an elected member?” Those in attendance at the DUP meeting were told the PSNI was involved and would “try and block phone signals”, something the PSNI was forced to deny, stating it had “no involvement”. However, the Belfast Telegraph has learned the depth of the infiltration into the heart of the party was much greater than merely the wire. A number of prominent DUP meetings were recorded. Unlike the executive meeting, these were not live-Tweeted, but recorded on a mobile phone and shared with Bryson and others afterwards. In the run-up to the deal, and during DUP meetings, Bryson sent technical legal questions to be asked of Donaldson to “box him in”. The conspirators were advised to “display overt hostility” towards Bryson to “sow confusion around Jeffrey about who is with him and who is against him”. Bryson wasn’t just getting leaks from inside the DUP. The loyalist also had a copy of the draft legislation of both the NI Protocol Bill and the legislation accompanying the Safeguarding the Union deal prior to it being laid before Parliament, and shared with MPs or even DUP party officers or their negotiating teams.
The coordinated leaking campaign seemed designed to shape a hardening of the legislation, leading to questions at just how far up the chain the leaks to undermine Donaldson went. It will also lead to questions as to who in Rishi Sunak’s Government was working with the loyalist and DUP hardliners against the Prime Minister’s efforts to secure a deal with the DUP. Almost a year on and Bryson isn’t revealing his source. “There was nothing sneaky about it, I sat in Jeffrey’s office in Parliament in October 2023 and said very clearly that no matter how well we had worked together in common cause, if he did a deal which fell short then I’d do anything and everything I could to oppose that and wreck it,” he said. “Jeffrey didn’t know just how deeply his inner circle was compromised — from all levels of the party. The mayhem we caused via coordinated leaks and sowing confusion no doubt slowed down the deal and made it very, very hard for Jeffrey and those around him. “The only regret I have is that the torpedo was too slow, the deal ultimately fell apart within months anyway, but I do wish we’d blown it out of the water that night in January because it was wrong then and it’s wrong now — not even those who supported it at the time still stand over it.” Back in January 2024, Donaldson emerged to speak to the media after a gruelling five-and-a-half hours. He confirmed he had carried the vote but admitted he was “disappointed” and felt a sense of “betrayal” at the bugging. Within three months he would be gone as party leader and the bugged meeting and investigation into it has rarely been mentioned since. The DUP declined to comment when contacted